


Swimming in the Moonlight

by procrastination_nation_citizen39722



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, OC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27855801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastination_nation_citizen39722/pseuds/procrastination_nation_citizen39722
Summary: Adrian Kemp couldn't accept anything less than 1st place. Winning was everything, end of story. So, when Chiron paired him with Griffin Cohen, a slacking son of Aphrodite, for an archery competition, his win streak --and his reputation-- looked like it was coming to a swift end. Chiron claimed he paired them up in hopes that they would rub off on each other, at least a little bit, but Adrian wasn't so sure that was the best idea.After all, what could a competition addict learn from someone who's best friend was a beach chair?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Swimming in the Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually a collab of sorts with the wonderful, the beautiful, Markiehh!
> 
> Griffin belongs to him, where Adrian is my OC. He surpassed 30k followers on Instagram a while back and he's planning a DTIYS of the two boys, which will eventually be a scene from this story.
> 
> He's also been a huge help with brainstorming, critiquing, and getting me off my lazy butt to write this thing.
> 
> If you don't follow him, go check him out!
> 
> This is Rated T for mild alcohol mention/use and possible language. Enjoy!

“Chiron, please, pair me up with anyone else.”

“Adrian—”

“ _Chiron_.”

The centaur sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Adrian had managed to stop him on the porch of the Big House and he had a feeling that Chiron had been avoiding this conversation all day long, but he underestimated Adrian’s persistence.

“I believe you two would be good influences on each other.”

A loud, humorless laugh boomed from Adrian. “ _Griffin_. A good influence on _me_. Yeah, okay. All Lover Boy does is sit in his beach chair all day at the lake.” He could picture him now, sitting in that stupid chair drinking his stupid piña coladas with the alcohol he somehow managed to sneak into the camp for the past two years. If it weren’t for the fact that he was one of the consistent suppliers for the Hermes Cabin’s monthly secret parties, Adrian would have ratted Griffin out solely out of spite. “I can understand why I’d be a good influence on _him_ , but seriously?”

“Griffin needs to learn to take things more seriously and you need to…take things _less_ seriously. I genuinely believe it would be good for the both of you to spend more time with each other.”

Adrian blinked and crinkled his nose in disgust. “You’re telling _me_ , the head counselor of the Nike Cabin, to take things less seriously.”

“I’m aware of your lineage but winning isn’t—”

“Yeah,” Adrian snapped, “winning isn’t everything.” He clicked his tongue in disgust and started walking down the steps of the porch, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You know,” he called over his shoulder, “I hear Michelle from the Athena Cabin has a habit of pulling all-nighters while she’s doing her research. You should confiscate her books and tell her that wisdom isn’t everything.”

Chiron said something else, but Adrian was already far enough away where he couldn’t make out what he had said. It was probably for the better. Even though he respected Chiron’s judgement on most things, he couldn’t have been more wrong on this one. Griffin was insufferable. End of story. Hearing what Chiron had to say probably would have only worsened his mood.

He needed to kick the hell out of someone but he was starting to lose all his willing sparring partners. His eyes subconsciously moved towards the cabins, falling on the bright red walls of the Ares Cabin. It had been two years since they’d broken up. She couldn’t still be mad at him, right?

• • •

Wrong. Before he even got to knock, Titus opened the door and stood there, completely blocking the inside from view. The guy was only fifteen and he was already six and a half feet tall and almost just as wide. His forearms alone were just about as big as Adrian’s head. He stared at Adrian down his nose and his dark brown eyes bore through him. Adrian was pretty sure he could feel a small spot in the center of his forehead starting to cook underneath his gaze and he suddenly felt like the ant getting roasted by the giant with a magnifying glass.

It would scare most people away in an instant. Too bad Adrian was shameless.

“Hey, Tiny.”

Titus folded his arms and sneered. “Evelyn isn’t here.”

He was caught a little off guard by the bluntness. “And what makes you think that’s why I’m here?”

Titus raised an eyebrow and looked at Adrian condescendingly. “So if you aren’t looking for Evelyn, why are you here?”

“Gods,” a voice said from inside, blocked from view from Titus’s massive body, “he’s such an idiot.” A hand shot out from between Titus and the doorframe, hitting Adrian in the chest and pushing him down the stairs of the cabin’s patio. His arms spun, trying to keep himself balanced, but the back of his foot hit a rock on the ground and he fell on his back. The air left his lungs on impact and as he stared at the sky in disbelief, Evelyn stood over him, her hands on her hips. Her blue eyes stared down at him furiously and he was suddenly a lot more fearful of her than of Titus. He knew that Ares’s inferno eyes weren’t hereditary, but he swore he saw blue flames dancing in her irises.

“I told you not to come back here,” she said, her voice dangerously even. “ _Why_ did you come back here?”

“I wanted to spar,” he sputtered, his voice raspy from the wind getting knocked out of him.

Evelyn stared at him for a moment, contemplating. Finally, she put her hand out for him to grab. He started reaching for her and hesitated, trying to read her expression. It hadn’t changed. The fire in her eyes that wasn’t there, but _was_ , at the same time, hadn’t left and everything inside of him was screaming at him not to take her hand. Even that Nike intuition that let him sense what would be his downfall was telling him, no, _yelling_ at him that it was a bad idea.

But he couldn’t resist. Holding her hand again was too appealing.

So he grabbed it.

He regretted it before their fingers even grazed.

She pulled him up so fast that his head snapped back and he bit his tongue, almost instantly tasting the coppery tang of blood. He was pretty sure he yelped. She spun him in a circle, putting her free hand in the center of his back, right between his shoulder blades, and pushed him back into the ground. His cheek sunk into the mud and she put her foot where her hand was, the heel of her combat boot pushing into his spine, making him sink further. Each time he tried to push himself back up, she drove her foot down harder.

“There,” she said, “sparring over.”

“As much as I loved that,” he replied, spitting out mud between every few words, “I really need to blow off steam and I was hoping we could move past what happened.”

Her foot lifted and he rolled over onto his back, only to see a spark of joy in her eyes. He held back a smile, glad that he was finally able to get through to her. He rose to his feet and she said, “You found out who your partner is.”

His heart deflated. Or maybe he… _didn’t_ get through to her.

He sighed. “Yeah.”

Evelyn cackled. “Oh man, as soon as I saw your names together on that list, I started _dying_. Chiron’s finally knocking you down a peg and it looks like I’m gonna be on top this time.”

Adrian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Who’s your partner?”

“Ashton.”

His stomach sank.

“Hypnos Ashton or… _Apollo_ Ashton?”

She only smirked.


End file.
